State, environment could both be winners

Amid the cacophony of voices surrounding legislative issues this year emerge a few sound words from Assemblyman Jason Geddes on the issue of energy conservation.

Geddes, an environmental affairs manager for the University of Nevada, Reno used his personal experience to come up with a plan to do something good for the environment while potentially saving the state a bunch of money on utility bills.

AB 398 would allow private companies to retrofit state buildings with more efficient energy systems and keep a good portion of their savings in exchange for the equipment. Assuming the state can actually get companies to do this and work out the agreements on ownership and other contract details, there’s a lot to like about it.

The state wouldn’t have to commit the capital funds for this expensive work. The environment is a big winner, as many of our state buildings don’t have the latest energy saving technology. We all win from fewer tax dollars used to pay utility bills.

Finally — and we assume the state will use Nevada firms to do the work — the companies involved can potentially make a tidy profit.

There is one other likable angle to this story: it’s nice to see a legislator put his real-life experience toward real state issues. So often we wonder where the real impetus lies behind a proposed piece of legislation (we won’t sully all this giddiness with examples today).

In this case it seems a straightforward case of Geddes using his UNR experience in energy saving to benefit the rest of the state. If this is indeed the case, let the savings begin.